BASF, TenCate Join Forces on Car Composites

The latest partnership for making composites affordable for high-volume car production is a strategic alliance between German chemical and plastics giant BASF, and The Netherlands-based aircraft composites maker TenCate Advanced Composites. The two have joined forces to develop and produce both glass and carbon continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastics.

As we've written before, this is not an easy goal to achieve, especially for structural carbon fiber composites. The partnership also comes after several others have already been launched. These include pacts between GM and Teijin, between Ford and Dow Automotive Systems, and a European consortia, such as the UK-based, Umeco-led ACOMPLICE, or the 72-company German consortium led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT).

Like these other agreements, the BASF/TenCate alliance targets high-performance, composite materials that can help carmakers reduce automotive weight to meet high mileage targets and reduce carbon emissions. TenCate is already known for its Cetex line of laminates and prepregs used in commercial aircraft interiors as well as structures, and in aircrafts such as the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A380 and A350. BASF is a major producer of plastics for automotive applications.

So, what makes this one different? We asked Dr. Andreas Wollny, head of the high-performance lightweight design team for the Engineering Plastics Europe business unit of BASF SE in Germany, for information.

Although there are many consortia being formed for this purpose, Wollny wrote in an email to Design News that his team "Believe[s] that BASF, as a global leading polymer supplier to the automotive industry, and TenCate, as a leader in thermoplastic aerospace composites, can develop together the required next generation of thermoplastic composites for lightweight construction in the automotive industry." He went on to say:

The challenge will be to make use of the properties of the composites as well as possible, and for that reason, the knowledge of fiber suppliers, the formulation knowhow of BASF, and the manufacturing expertise of TenCate will be beneficial.

Since the ability and willingness to pay, along with the technical requirements, are entirely different between the aerospace and automotive industries, new materials will need to be designed, wrote Wollny. "These new materials will be manufactured partly with the existing knowhow of both partners, but new processing/manufacturing technologies will also be introduced."

The development agreement targets only thermoplastic composites, not thermosets. In carbon fiber composites, the biggest challenge will be to find cost-efficient solutions with a high-weight savings potential compared to aluminum. "This will only be achieved by looking into the carbon fiber, by adapting the thermoplastic matrix materials, and by developing new processes for manufacturing," wrote Wollny.

Under the agreement, BASF will develop specialized variants of its Ultramid (PA), Ultradur (PBT), and Ultrason (PESU) product lines, while TenCate Advanced Composites will contribute its experience with composite manufacturing. Their combined efforts will target a variety of automotive composite materials based on these specialty resin systems, including unidirectionally (UD) oriented tapes, prepregs, and laminates.

Rob, as the article points out, this is one of several partnerships and consortia aimed at making composites, especially carbon ones, more affordable and adaptable to high-volume automotive apps. In my feature on composites for automotive manufacturing,
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=249597
we mention several of these partnerships and how they are approaching R&D.

Nadine, the thing that surprised me the most isn't this part of the trend (composite makers specifically addressing automotive needs), but why car companies didn't start sooner in working with composite companies.

I do not think stability is related to weight. In college, I was part of the solar race car team that designed and built a car to compete with other universities. These were mostly cabon fiber, honycomb core board, and lots of aluminum with just a little bit of steel for critical components. The universities built cars that were less than 700 pounds (minus the driver), stret legal and licensed, and ran at speeds of 60 to 65 mph (though to win the distance race the real speed was more like 45 to 50 mph).

OTOH, having a light vehicle mingled in traffic with a heavy cruiser could have bad results if things went awry! My 3/4 ton SUV would crush one of these super lights in an accident.

So the real issue is safety. Extracting the lightest possible vehicle while maintaining today's safety standards and expectations. I think the consumer will be forced to re-evaluate the need for 'optional' equipment and cost of purchase. But even in this front, the OEM may further the integration of technology to save weight (for example the users smart phone takes care of the entertainment, navigation, and communication). These systems then become 'connectors' made as light as possible.

Or Charles, the auto manufacturers will be forced to severly limit the sales of high end, heavy vehicles. This will drive the price up (and the profits for these vehicles) forcing the average buyer to purchase the smaller, lighter, and high MPG cars. Also, the electric and hybrid cars are getting serious looks at lighter weight to further the range of the existing batteries.

Working in the industry, I can tell you my observations: the automotive engineers are looking to carbon fiber composites to reduce the weight of the high volume vehicles. They do some work on the high end, heavy vehicles, but this seems to be for testing (as they can absorb the cost better in the higher margin vehicles). Then when the process is matured, it becomes the standard on the high volume vehicles and crosses over several parts and assemblies. Where the original concept in the test vehicles is limited to a few parts. I also see them going after any and all parts for weight reduction, including drivetrains (think composite oil pans, carbon fiber rims, and plastic transmission components)!

Good point, Naperlou. Vehicles that weigh 4,500 to 5,500 lbs are going to drag down the manufacturer's CAFE. They will either have to cut weight, or be offset with vehicles that offer huge mileage improvements.

Rob, carbon fibers are among the strongest materials we have in terms of specific strength (Wikipedia has a good article on this). Generally, carbon composites have a very high strength-to-weight ratio. That ratio varies depending on the composites and also on how they are made (i.e., does it use carbon nanotubes, long fibers and/or short fibers, and how are they laid down in the matrix?).

Ann, you often write about composites for automotive applications. This is sorely needed. High end manufacturers, especially in Germany, are producing cars that are very heavy. I have looked at Mercedes and BMW and the trend is not good. When I was comparing the Tesla S to the BMW 5 series that it was designed to compete with, I found that the cars were in the 4,500 pound range. Now, this is their mid-size car. I drive a ten year old Chrysler that is full size and weighs 900 pounds less. I know the reason the German makers do this is stability, but this is getting out of control. What made me think of this again was an article I saw this past weekend about a large Mercedes SUV which came in at about 5,400 pounds. This is going to be a problem for these manufacturers as CAFE standards kick in. Composites will be one of the only ways in which they can lower weight and thereby improve fuel efficiency. This is an issue that both of the manufacturers mentioned have talked publically about in reference to the CAFE standardss.

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